Athens in the international city rankings
Each index with Athens' place, how many cities it ranks, the year, the change since the previous edition and the cities around it. Good and bad places are written the same way.
Source: International city indices ·
How do Athenians rate their city against other European cities?
EU survey on the Quality of Life in European Cities
Every three years the European Commission asks about 850 residents in each of 83 cities in the EU, EFTA, the UK, the Western Balkans and Turkey. It measures residents' opinions, not measurements. The "city" is as Eurostat defines it for city statistics.
The Commission publishes shares, not a ranking. The rank is ours, from the share of residents answering positively, across the 83 cities of the 2023 survey; cities with the same share share a rank. The questions about respondents' own lives (job, money, health, loneliness) are left out, since they describe the people asked, not the city.
Satisfied with public transport 49th of 83 · Athens 69.2% · average 67.7%
Satisfied with health care services, doctors and hospitals 77th of 83 · Athens 38.6% · average 66.1%
Satisfied with sports facilities 78th of 83 · Athens 46.8% · average 64.8%
Satisfied with cultural facilities (concert halls, theatres, museums, libraries) 72nd of 83 · Athens 60.9% · average 77.4%
Satisfied with green spaces such as parks and gardens 79th of 83 · Athens 37.3% · average 75.0%
Satisfied with public spaces such as markets, squares and pedestrian areas 83rd of 83 · Athens 38.6% · average 74.6%
Satisfied with schools and other educational facilities 82nd of 83 · Athens 47.8% · average 67.1%
Satisfied with the quality of the air 79th of 83 · Athens 27.5% · average 59.5%
Satisfied with the noise level 80th of 83 · Athens 35.5% · average 62.0%
Satisfied with cleanliness 78th of 83 · Athens 33.9% · average 59.0%
Satisfied to live in their city 82nd of 83 · Athens 64.7% · average 86.5%
It is easy to find a good job in the city 77th of 83 · Athens 20.1% · average 41.4%
Feel safe walking alone at night in the city 82nd of 83 · Athens 40.0% · average 67.9%
Feel safe walking alone at night in their neighbourhood 83rd of 83 · Athens 54.2% · average 76.4%
It is easy to find good housing at a reasonable price 14th of 83, tied · Athens 47.1% · average 31.7%
Most people in the city can be trusted 82nd of 83 · Athens 34.1% · average 61.4%
Most people in their neighbourhood can be trusted 82nd of 83 · Athens 57.8% · average 75.0%
Satisfied with the neighbourhood where they live 82nd of 83 · Athens 68.2% · average 85.7%
Public transport is affordable 72nd of 83 · Athens 56.8% · average 67.1%
Public transport is safe 75th of 83 · Athens 69.0% · average 80.5%
Public transport is easy to get 74th of 83 · Athens 70.5% · average 80.6%
Public transport is frequent 69th of 83 · Athens 62.7% · average 71.2%
Public transport is reliable (comes when it says it will) 69th of 83 · Athens 61.2% · average 70.4%
Satisfied with the time the local administration takes to solve a request 65th of 83, tied · Athens 40.0% · average 48.9%
The local administration's procedures are straightforward and easy to understand 71st of 83, tied · Athens 41.0% · average 53.7%
The local administration's fees are reasonable 79th of 83 · Athens 29.6% · average 53.2%
The local administration's information and services are easy to reach online 81st of 83 · Athens 52.5% · average 67.6%
There is corruption in the local public administration 69th of 83 · Athens 58.1% · average 41.2%
Here the city where the fewest residents say so comes first.
From the publisher's own file: EU survey on the Quality of Life in European Cities
How clean is Athens' air compared with other European cities?
European Environment Agency: City Air Quality Viewer
Ranks European cities from the cleanest air to the most polluted, from the official stations' measurements. Since the 2025 edition the ranking combines the health risk from three pollutants (fine particles PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide and ozone). Earlier editions ranked on PM2.5 alone and are not compared with the new ones. The "city" is as Eurostat defines it.
745th of 761 · 2025
- PM2.5
- 17.6 µg/m³
- 458th of 761
- NO₂
- 27.5 µg/m³
- 160th of 761
- O₃
- 105.2 µg/m³
- 208th of 761
From the publisher's own file: European Environment Agency: City Air Quality Viewer
The whole list (761 cities)
How smart a city is Athens?
Every year the IMD business school, with Singapore's SUTD, asks residents of each city how they see its infrastructure and digital services, in health, mobility, activities, opportunities and governance. It measures perception, not measurements. The score is IMD's rating, from AAA to D.
139th of 148 · 2026
Score: CCC
19 places lower than in 2024 (120th of 142)
Earlier editions
- 2024 · 120th of 142
From the publisher's own file: IMD Smart City Index
The full list is in the publisher's report: IMD Smart City Index.
Where does Athens stand in the Cities in Motion Index?
Every year the IESE business school combines over 100 statistical indicators in nine dimensions (human capital, social cohesion, economy, governance, environment, mobility, urban planning, international profile, technology) into one composite index. The score is the CIMI, with 100 for the first city.
The full list is in the publisher's report: IESE Cities in Motion Index.
How liveable is Athens according to the Economist Intelligence Unit?
Every year the Economist Intelligence Unit scores about 170 cities on 30 indicators of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure, mostly from its analysts' assessments and from the point of view of someone moving from abroad. The full list is sold.
No edition published yet. The full list is not public, and Athens' place is published once two different news outlets report the same one.
Where does Athens stand in Mercer's Quality of Living ranking?
The consultancy Mercer compares living conditions in about 240 cities for employees whose employers send them abroad. The list is sold to its clients.
No edition published yet. The full list is not public, and Athens' place is published once two different news outlets report the same one.
How sustainable a city is Athens according to Arcadis?
Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index
The engineering firm Arcadis ranks 100 cities on sustainability, on three pillars (people, planet, prosperity). Only the overall ranking counts here. The report is given out on sign-up.
No edition published yet. The full list is not public, and Athens' place is published once two different news outlets report the same one.
How friendly is Athens to people with disabilities?
No international index ranks Athens on accessibility. The European Commission's Access City Award honours a few cities each year without ranking the rest, so it gives no place for Athens.
How we choose and show the rankings
- Which indices appear was decided once, by what they measure, never by where Athens comes out. None is dropped after a bad year.
- Every place is written in full, with the number of cities and the year, e.g. "139th of 148 (2026)", never "top 150".
- We always show the newest edition, and keep the earlier ones.
- A rise and a fall are written in the same words, with a green arrow for a rise and a red one for a fall. Two editions are compared only with the same method and about the same number of cities.
- Each index says what it measures and over which area.
- Beside the place we give the score, where the publisher gives one, because places magnify small differences.
- We make no overall score of our own and don't compare indices with each other.
- The card on the dashboard picks which ranking to show at random, without looking at the result.
- Every edition says where it comes from, with the links. Publishers' files are read automatically and news reports with AI, with no human choosing. A report counts only if the sentence giving the place is in the article word for word, and a place is published only when two different outlets report the same one. Anything that fails these checks is not published.